


Battle for Skaia

by artsyAquarius



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe, Derse and Prospit, Humanstuck, Multi, Rebellion, Royalty, War
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-09-28
Updated: 2013-10-27
Packaged: 2017-12-27 20:15:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,179
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/983147
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/artsyAquarius/pseuds/artsyAquarius
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Once Upon a Time, there were two neighbouring kingdoms. Prospit was a peaceful kingdom that survived mainly on the land and hard work. Everybody did what they could to earn a living. Derse had riches to spare. It was a kingdom filled with knowledge and politics; strong, opinionated people thrived there and did what they could to live in luxury. <br/>Now, in both kingdoms, there lived a handful of people known as psychics; those with mental abilities that surpassed most peoples. Prospit encouraged these powers and saw them as something to be revered and cherished. Derse saw them as flaws and only sought to exploit these powers, or else destroy those who had them. <br/>Derse and Prospit lived beside each other peacefully for centuries, bound together by a great unclaimed land named Skaia. This land was sacred to both kingdoms; Prospit saw it as the holy grounds of messiahs who would come to save the Earth from destruction; Derse saw it as cursed land where demons brought misfortune. But Derse thought they could gain more from taking the precious land from Prospit. This started a great war that was kept in the balance by a thread. <br/>That was, until Derse gained a new Queen.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Karkat's Birthday

Karkat Vantas had a pretty good childhood, up until he turned fifteen. The war had started when he was fifteen, so he’d had friends from Derse before then. Even though he was technically peasantry, he’d spent countless hours playing pretend games with children from all sorts of different classes.   
One of his best friends was actually a count’s son, but he’d never looked down on Karkat (except literally; Karkat had always been short for his age). Another of his very close friend was a Dersite, but his family had moved back and forth between the two kingdoms plenty of times. They considered themselves more nomads than anything else.   
Karkat was also quite close to a boy of noble blood from Derse. He wasn’t technically a royal, but he had been rumoured to be engaged to the heiress of his kingdom. He’d been a fairly isolated child, so Karkat had listened to his complaining and tried to get him to play nice with the other children.   
Then there was the little stray girl whose parents had abandoned her as an infant. She had mostly been raised by a noble’s son who’d found her one day and took care of her, but she lived in a cave and hunted a lot of her own food. One day she’d found Karkat ploughing in the fields, and latched onto him. He had been mostly annoyed with her, but she was persistent about following him, so he’d reluctantly developed a friendship with her. She, too, hailed from Derse, but often crept through Skaia and made her way into Prospit in order to spend time with Karkat and a few other friends.   
But all of this changed when the war started.   
All of Karkat’s Dersite friends had to stay on their side of Skaia, or risk punishment. He wasn’t allowed to comfort the would-be-prince, bicker with the nomad, or tolerate the cave-girl. He had also discovered something about himself that Derse officials would kill him for – He could see people’s emotions. That’s right, see them. It had crept up on him gradually, but eventually he noticed things other people didn’t. He saw coloured lights softly glowing around everyone he met. Pale yellow for happiness, blue for sadness, bright, blaring red for anger. When he was younger, he mentioned it a few times to his parents, but they’d thought it was just a childhood game he’d grow out of. He didn’t.   
The only person he could confide in was Kanaya Maryam. He had spent a lot of time with her growing up, and he considered her a sister. She was a patient, caring girl who offered comfort and a sensitive ear to anyone who wanted to speak. But she was also refreshingly honest and abrupt, sometimes even sarcastic. So when Karkat told her about his strange power, he already knew what to expect.   
“If anyone from Derse finds out, you’ll be killed on the spot.” She’d said in her calm, eloquent tone. Karkat had rolled his eyes – of course I’m not going to tell a Dersite! What do you think I am, an idiot? – But he’d been grateful for her understanding.   
He’d kept his secret between himself and Kanaya, but he suspected someone else would figure it out sooner or later. Her name was Terezi Pyrope, and she was extremely intuitive. She had been more a normal child, but an incident had caused her to become blind. However, this didn’t damage her future at all; it awakened a psychic power in her. Even though she could no longer see with her eyes, she could sense colours and shapes, with her sense of smell. Smell was apparently the sense most connected to memory, so Karkat guessed that she probably had a heightened sense of smell, and was mostly going off memory. But she claimed to be able to smell and taste colours, too, and had no trouble getting around without bumping into things all the time, so he wasn’t exactly sure how her powers worked.   
Terezi was really great at figuring things out. Karkat could never hide anything from her; she knew whenever he was nervous about something, and liked to say that she could ‘smell fear’. Even though she was young, she had a family legacy that allowed her to have a very powerful status in Prospit. She was a highly skilled warrior, even after her blindness, and was a valuable asset to the kingdom. Karkat was certain he would let something about his abilities slip, and no matter how subtle, she would figure it out. But he knew that she’d never report him to anyone. Prospit didn’t kill its psychics; they celebrate them, make them respected members of the community. Terezi knew Karkat wouldn’t want that. Despite the drama he seemed to cause wherever he went, he much preferred to stay out of the limelight.   
Life went like that for a while; Karkat spent most of his time with Kanaya, Terezi and the count’s son, keeping under the radar and hiding his secret from almost everyone. Then, on his eighteenth birthday, his life changed once again. 

 

“Karkat, are you ready yet? We need to get to the market before the streets get too busy!” Kanaya called from the kitchen.   
Karkat heaved a huge sigh. It was his birthday; surely he shouldn’t have to rush? Shouldn’t he be allowed to sleep in or something? Apparently not. Kanaya was getting impatient, and that could mean something frightening for anyone who kept her waiting. So Karkat quickly got dressed and hurried down, making sure to pocket a few extra coins. The two actually got a lot of supplies by trading or bartering, but it never hurt to pay with actual money once in a while.   
Kanaya smiled warmly as he came down the stairs; obviously she wasn’t in as much of a bad mood as he had thought. “Happy birthday, Karkat.” She sang, holding out a bundle wrapped in brown paper, her green eyes shining in her tanned face.   
Now, this could be good or bad. Kanaya was a pretty renowned seamstress in the poorer parts of the kingdom. This meant that the gift could be something practical, or something extravagant, ornate, and entirely too flashy for someone of his status. Most of the nicer clothes Kanaya designed for him would have gotten him too much attention in public. People would think he’d stolen it. So even though it was kind of a waste of Kanaya’s talent, Karkat only wore them amongst trusted friends. But Kanaya did know when to make appropriate clothing, and she made it well.   
Karkat took care opening the package; he knew Kanaya cared about neatness, and didn’t want ripped paper everywhere. But, to Karkat’s joy, there were no clothes underneath the wrapping; there was a thick, intricate-looking paperback novel. Karkat stared at the book and back up at Kanaya with wide brown eyes, levels of surprise and elatedness showing in his face.   
Books were pretty much the primary source of entertainment in that house. The two didn’t have enough money to afford a television, (though Karkat often watched it at Gamzee’s house) so they both shared a love of fantasy and romance novels. They both became heavily attached to the characters and plots, sometimes crying together over the events of a certain story. And on Karkat’s bad days, he would sit next to Kanaya while she read aloud to him. But, of course, he’d never tell anyone about that.   
“Wow…Kanaya, this is just…where did you get this from?” If she bought that with her own money, Karkat was going to be seriously mad. They needed to save their coins, not spend them on petty things they could easily borrow from Gamzee (though he was unlikely to have many complex novels in his home).   
Kanaya just smiled enigmatically. “I just got it from one of my many sources.” Karkat knew exactly what she meant.   
“You’re still meeting Rose? Kanaya, she’s a Dersite, you could get in serious trouble just by talking to her!”   
Immediately Kanaya got into her defensive stance. Her aura flashed a dull red for a second. “Rose was very kind to give that to us without charge. And we are very careful to keep our meetings secret, you know that, Karkat!” He didn’t like arguing with her when she got like this, but he didn’t trust Rose completely, no matter how many times Kanaya asserted that she was reliable.   
“Yeah, but…she could be a spy for them! Didn’t you ever think about that? And I don’t like that brother of hers, either!” Karkat had crossed his arms now, and his shoulders were hunched. He was building a defensive shell around himself as he so often did. But he really didn’t trust the Strider family. They were never completely honest, and it was hard to tell when they were being serious or not.   
Kanaya got an impassive expression on her face, and picked up a basket. “Karkat, Rose is not a spy. You could at least feel grateful for the gift. Now, come on, I want to pick up something extra for dessert.” Obviously, that was all there was to say on the matter, so Karkat rolled his eyes, sighed, and followed Kanaya out the door.   
The market wasn’t overly crowded when they arrived, but it was full of people crying out prices and trying to sell their goods. Karkat was too busy brooding to notice a lot of what was being offered, but a few words from a paperboy caught his attention.   
“Last night the, uh, Queen of Derse was found dead. The, uh, heiress, Meenah Peixes, is the new Queen.” Karkat immediately recognised the stuttering voice of Tavros Nitram, and whirled around to find him clumsily sorting out some heavy newspapers.   
Tavros was a boy Karkat’s age, who’d been paralysed from the waist down four years ago. He got around now in a crudely put together wheelchair. Karkat only new him because when the war had started, and all the adults had left to fight away from the kingdoms, Tavros had moved in with Terezi to keep each other safe. Well, it was mostly Terezi who kept Tavros safe, but that was beside the point. Tavros was a psychic as well, and a powerful one, too. He had power over animals, but he never used this power to harm anyone.   
“What did you say?” Karkat said, a little too loudly. Tavros looked a little startled, but gave him a wary smile.   
“Hi, Karkat. Hi, Kanaya.” Kanaya smiled and nodded to acknowledge him. She was fond of him; she took it upon herself to care for those less fortunate, and Tavros, with his large eyes, wheelchair and meek nature, was very easy to pity.   
Karkat wasn’t bothered with politeness, though. “Are you serious? Derse has a new Queen?” He knew Tavros was easily distracted, so he wanted to get straight to the point.   
Tavros looked a bit intimidated, but quickly picked up a paper and pointed at the front page. “Uh, yeah, it’s right here. Apparently, uh, the Queen was…poisoned, or something…so now the new Queen’s already started changing things in Derse. Uh, Queen Peixes, that is, not the old queen, because she’s, uh, well, dead.” Getting him to have an engaging conversation was pretty difficult, and sometimes frustrating, but this was critical information.   
“Queen Peixes….That’s Feferi’s mother, isn’t it?” Kanaya asked, sounding concerned.   
Karkat frowned, confused. “Who’s Feferi? And…what’s the new Queen like? Is she for or against the war?” God, how many questions would it take to get a few pieces of information?  
“I know Feferi Peixes.” A timid voice said, belonging to a girl that Karkat hadn’t noticed until now. The girl was standing next to a boy that looked quite similar to her. They both had dark, messy hair, tanned skin, and thick glasses. The girl had bright, emerald green eyes, and the boy had sky-blue ones. They were also both extremely familiar, though Karkat couldn’t remember why.   
“I’ve only spoken to her a few times, but she was really nice. Her mom, though…” the girl shuddered. “She’s not nice at all. If she’s the new Queen, I’m sure she’s for the war.” The girl had kept her eyes on the ground the whole time she spoke, but the boy had been staring at Karkat with pleasant curiosity.   
“Karkat? Karkat Vantas?” The boy said, grinning, his aura glowing bright blue. Karkat raised an eyebrow in confusion.   
“It’s me, John Egbert! And this is my sister, Jade! Don’t you remember us? We used to play together all the time when we were kids!” All of the pieces clicked into place. Karkat did recognise him now; though he was sure John had worse teeth back then.   
Karkat found himself going into his shell. They hadn’t actually been that close, and they definitely weren’t the closest friends. John had always been stupidly optimistic, whereas Karkat was always angry or brooding about something. But they did have some good memories between them, even if Karkat had forgotten about most of them by now.   
“Hi, John.” Karkat muttered grudgingly, keeping his eyes down. He wasn’t in the mood for reminiscing.   
“So what do you know about the Queen?” Kanaya asked, turning to Jade and keeping the conversation on track.   
Jade bit her lip and twiddled her thumbs. It was clear she was regretting bringing it up. “Well, she’s pretty power-hungry, even more so than the last Queen. She really likes gold, and she’ll do anything to get it.” She winced. “And…she also really, really hates psychics.” Karkat didn’t know why she looked so anxious; she didn’t seem like the average psychic type. She looked too normal. But you could never really know.   
“People are saying that she’s…that she’s going to try to exterminate psychics completely. From Derse and Prospit.” Karkat had to supress a shiver. How was she planning to get rid of all psychics? She couldn’t make the Prospitian royals turn against them. But, still…this couldn’t be a good thing, for anyone.   
Kanaya seemed to be able to sense the tense atmosphere as well as Karkat could see the dark grey aura around everyone. “Well, thank you for that information. I hope we meet again sometime, Jade, and John,” she picked up a paper from the pile at Tavros’ feet. “Thank you, Tavros.” She pushed a few coins in his palm, and he grinned gleefully as he noticed the few extra coins.   
Kanaya’s unending sympathy was one of the main reasons they couldn’t afford a television.


	2. The Animal Within

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The next few chapter will be introducing the other characters and their stories, but Karkat can't help but sneak his way into everything...

John was in a pretty good mood after the trip to the market, but Jade wasn’t. “John, could you please take this seriously for a second?” Jade snapped, hands on her hips.   
John snapped out of his trance. He’d been practicing his powers by making mini-tornados float around in the palm of his hand. “Take what seriously?” Jade rolled her eyes.   
“The whole thing with the Queen of Derse? She’s risking putting us all in danger!” she was using hand-gestures now, which meant she was really worried.   
John brushed some dust off of his pants and stood up. “Jade, calm down! We don’t know what she’s actually going to do yet, and there’s no point getting upset about it now.” Jade was usually pretty optimistic and happy, but she did tend to get stressed a lot. Then it was John’s job to stop things getting out of control.   
But his sister glared at him fiercely. “John, it’s not just us! Dave and Rose are in serious trouble, too! You know they’re not good at staying under the radar! And if they attract any attention to themselves, they could be killed!” Admittedly, John hadn’t thought about that. He’d been distracted by meeting Karkat after all those years, and hadn’t really been thinking about the new Queen.   
“Fine, ok…do you want me to call Dave? I’ll tell him to lay low, don’t stir up too much trouble, look after Rose…how’s that sound?” Jade bit her lip, but finally nodded, and John took out his phone.   
Pretty much everyone had a phone now, but they were still a new idea, so no one used them much. Except John. He couldn’t afford to lose contact with Dave and Rose. They were too close to grow apart, and the Striders were too dangerous (to themselves) to be left unchecked.   
“Hey, Dave, you there?”  
“S’up, Egbert?”  
“Whew, good to know you’re not dead.”  
John could imagine the smirk on Dave’s face. “Yeah, I’m still pretty alive over here. How’re things going on your front? Jade still ok?” Dave was always asking about Jade, even though they spoke often on the phone, too.   
“Yeah, Jade’s good. Hey, do you know there’s a new Queen?” John heard him snicker.   
“John, I live in Derse. Of course I know that. I knew that long before you did.”   
“Yeah, but…what’s happening with her? What’s she doing?”   
“God, Egbert, I don’t know. She just became Queen; she’s not gonna be tearing down buildings to make gold statues of herself or anything. Even though that does sound like the kind of thing she’d do.”   
John had to supress a moan of frustration. Jade was getting impatient and he didn’t like bringing up the subject of psychics, even though he was one himself. “Ok, but I heard that she was going to be tightening the rules on psychics a little.” That was an understatement, but John was hoping Dave would pick up on his nervousness and know what was going on.   
Dave sighed quietly. “Yeah, I know. Apparently she has a huge grudge against us or something. But don’t worry; no one here knows anything about us, so it’s all good.” The four of them were all psychics with unique powers. John could manipulate wind to an extent, like making the tiny tornados. Jade could make plants grow at her will, which didn’t sound all that great, but she could make a wall out of vines, or make rose thorns fly around, and lots of other cool stuff like that. Dave, in a way, was a sort of time-traveller. It was more like he could transport himself anywhere he wanted, but he has to have been there before. He couldn’t transport to France unless he’d gone there by plane or something. And Rose was a fortune-teller. Well, not exactly…she could see visions of the future, but only the good things that would happen, which is kind of frustrating, because she couldn’t predict the bad things. For instance, she would know if you would become famous, but she wouldn’t be able to tell you that you’d die first. Psychics weren’t supposed to have powers to make their lives perfect. No one really knew why they existed, only that they were different from everyone else.   
“Ok, well, can you just…not attract attention to yourselves? And…don’t let Rose fly off the handle again, alright? We can’t have her nearly blowing our cover again…” John tended to worry about Rose a lot. She was very, very smart and calculating, and rarely ever did anything without thinking it through. But when she’d discovered her mother had died in war, she’d snapped, albeit in a Rose-like way. She was intent on causing destruction and avenging her mother, but she’d explained her motives in a calm and reasonable way, sounding chillingly serene, but with an intense hatred in her eyes. She’d almost exposed herself by using her powers in the form of corporeal beams of light (John wasn’t sure how that worked, but that’s how she’d explained it), but Dave had transported to her location and stopped her. It had scared all of them, but they were glad when it was finally over.   
“Sure thing, Egbert. I know how to look after my sister. You just stay calm over there, alright?”  
“Yeah, alright. Talk to you later.”  
“Later.”  
John ended the call and turned to Jade. “There, I did it. Everything’s going to be fine, you’ll see. Now can we relax for little while?” he smiled, and Jade couldn’t hide her laughter.   
“Alright, you win. I have to go check on the plants, but I’ll be back in time for dinner. Don’t do anything stupid, alright?” John nodded and waved her away. He didn’t want to make Jade more anxious than she already was, but he was worried, too. Nobody really knew about them being psychics, but you could never really trust anyone.   
A few minutes later Jade came back inside, looking scared out of her wits. “John, have you seen Bec? I just went out to feed him, and he wasn’t there, and he won’t come when I call him…” Bec, or Becquerel, was their very large white dog. He was also a kind of psychic, if animals could really be psychics. He had a lot of strange powers, like transportation (though the range was not as far as Dave’s), and practically being able to read minds. Not that this was a huge deal, because Bec was a dog.   
But Jade was really attached to him, and a dog like that could get them into trouble. “Huh…Well, I’m sure he’ll turn up. If he’s not back tomorrow morning, then we can go looking for him. He’s probably just hunting a rabbit or something…” 

 

Wheelchairs were exceedingly difficult to operate, especially ones mostly made out of wood and rusty scraps of metal. Even after four years, Tavros found it hard to move around in small places, which was one of the reasons they didn’t have a lot of furniture in their house. The other reason was that Terezi was blind and had no use for ornamental things. But that wasn’t to say that their house was completely bare; Terezi was an esteemed member of the community, and was kind of a law enforcer, so they got pretty much everything they asked for. That didn’t happen to be a lot; a bookshelf full of fairy tales and fantasy novels for Tavros, a drawing room for Terezi (for planning out attacks, apparently, though Tavros had caught her smelling the chalk on several occasions).   
Their life of comfort was also helped along by the fact that they were both Flarpers. Before the war had started, Derse and Prospit had formed teams of children who were both skilled at combat, and whose family had been a large part of the forming of the two kingdoms. For instance, Tavros’ father was the leader of a rebellion against class disparity in Prospit, and Terezi’s mother was a powerful lawyer (and bounty hunter) who’d brought down many enemies. In each team of two Flarpers, there was one child from each kingdom. The teams went out to explore Skaia so that they could learn more about it. It was fairly dangerous, but the children of Derse and Prospit grew up learning about combat, and war, and knew that the kingdom would come to depend on them as they grew older.   
Tavros and Terezi, of course, had been on different teams, but often worked together. Tavros’ teammate was a girl from Derse, and the two had quickly become close friends. She, too, was a psychic, but Tavros never saw her demonstrate her powers. She was devoted to her kingdom, and was a natural leader, but kind and patient, too.   
Terezi’s teammate was another matter entirely. She and Terezi got along really well for the most part, but this girl was manipulative and devious, using Flarping as an excuse to ‘take out the competition’. She was kind of a criminal in Derse, but for some reason instead of killing her, she was used as a kind of spy for her kingdom, to keep an eye on Prospit. She wasn’t interested in Skaia; she wanted to steal the riches and hurt everyone who got in her way.   
She was also the one who got Tavros paralysed, and was his first love.   
“Hey, Tavros, I got some of that fancy bread today, so…” Terezi walked in through the door, holding a basket of food, to ‘smell’ Tavros trying to reach a cabinet doorknob that was ridiculously high for him.   
The skinny girl sighed and opened the door for him, getting a jar of paprika out and putting it on the table (Tavros had actually wanted cumin, but no one got between Terezi and her edible red things). “So anyway, the people at the bakery gave us enough food to last a whole month! Just for catching a petty thief! I love this job!” If you could really call it a job, yes, she did love it. She wasn’t officially a sheriff, but everyone knew her enough that they let her hunt down criminals without complaint. She spent more time doing that than she did at home, but she always came back to help Tavros with the meals.   
“Huh? That’s great! So, uh, I don’t need to sell papers for a while, then?” Tavros really didn’t like doing it, but it was a way to make money, and he was too shy to complain, anyway. But his voice was usually too quiet and he stammered too often to be heard properly. And those who did hear him usually made fun of him. It didn’t help that he was in a wheelchair and couldn’t defend himself.   
Terezi laughed, snorting slightly. “No, you can stop if you want! Hey, are we going to Gamzee’s tonight? I’m guessing you’re going to want to talk about the new Queen, right?” she said the words ‘new Queen’ with disdain and an ugly face. Terezi didn’t really like figures of authority that weren’t herself, especially if she didn’t know who they were or what they stood for.   
“Uh, yeah, if that’s alright with you?” Tavros and Terezi had very different relationships with Gamzee; Tavros adored and admired the count’s son, and considered him his best friends. Terezi’s feelings were…interesting, to say the least. She and Gamzee could be considered friends, but insulted and made fun of each other more than anything else. It seemed like they didn’t like each other; they liked teasing, demeaning and upsetting each other, though they’d never let the other know they’d been bothered.   
Terezi shrugged, tapping her finger against her glasses. “No problem. I’ve got a bit of a bone to pick with him, anyway.” Tavros bit his lip. That was never good. He didn’t like to see her interrogating him, and he didn’t like Gamzee smirking and giving vague answers in the form of riddles.   
They ate dinner quietly and quickly, knowing they’d most likely get a bigger feed when they went to visit Gamzee, who lived in the palace. Since his mother had died during childbirth, and his father wanted nothing to do with him, he’d been partially adopted by the King and Queen. He’d been raised by a lot of different nobles, scholars and servants around the castle, so it was hard for him to form close bonds with people.   
When Terezi wheeled Tavros to the palace gates, they were stopped, as they always where, by the same guard.   
“Miss Pyrope, here to see Mr Makara again?” The guard said, looking down on Terezi with a smirk. He always made a point of speaking to her, though he never even acknowledged Tavros in his wheelchair. They did make an odd pairing, though; Terezi was a vision of power, with her red short-sleeved blouse, teal corset, riding boots and long sword sheathed at her waist. Tavros, with his plain, simple, colourless clothes, was very visibly a peasant.   
“Well, we didn’t come here to see you!” Terezi said brightly, grinning cheerfully. They rolled past the guard through the gate and into the castle grounds, breathing in the sea air. The castle was right near a beach that stretched all around Prospit, through Skaia, and into Derse, where most of the ocean, rock pools and sand were.   
“It’s people like him that make me hate our social system.” Terezi noted, sticking her tongue out and sneering. The ‘social system’ in both kingdoms was heavily based on wealth. If you didn’t have much money, you wouldn’t be taken seriously. It was also pretty patriarchal. The Kings were the ones with all the power, even though most people knew the Queens were the ones pulling the strings. Girls wore dresses or skirts, and did most of the housework, and men were expected to go to war. This was why Terezi was a novelty in the richer parts of Prospit; a young, blind, petite middle-class girl working as a law-enforcer was quite rare, and not everyone respected her. But those who messed with her made a powerful foe; she had friends in high places, and she had a fierce determination coupled with an affinity for revenge and karma.   
Gamzee’s quarters were a turret room that had been added onto the castle after he’d been adopted there. It over looked the ocean, and you could hear the waves crashing in the distance. When they were younger, Gamzee had told Tavros that sometimes, he watched the waves and hoped that his father would sail back on them.   
Terezi knocked on the door, loudly and arrogantly as usual, and it opened to reveal Gamzee standing in his room, his expression appearing exhausted but quickly changing to a fixed look of mellowed friendliness.   
“Hey, there, guys…come in, come in,” Gamzee waved them inside, opening the door as wide as it could go, and Tavros noticed the dark circles under his eyes. He also looked thinner than usual, paler too, and he was shaking slightly. None of them liked talking about it, but Gamzee often had this strange drink called Faygo. It was endorsed by the royals, and they promoted it heavily. But Gamzee had it enough to border on addiction, and it did strange things to him. There was probably something illegal in the drink, but the sponsors would never admit it; it brought in too much money for them to get rid of it.   
“So what can I do for you guys?” Gamzee said, slouching back into a chair.   
Instinctively, Tavros glanced over at Terezi to meet her eye, even though she wouldn’t have noticed. “Uh…we wanted to talk to you about the new Queen…and, uh, the old Queen too, I guess…” He bit his lip. He didn’t like bringing up difficult conversations. He didn’t really like starting any kind of conversation at all.   
Gamzee leant back, sighed deeply and stared off into the distance. “Well…God, she’s a bit of a situation, right? I mean…I thought the old Queen was bad. But even when she was like…just a court member or whatever, she had all these plans for taking down the other kingdoms around here. She was…well, to be honest, she’s kind of nuts.” He chuckled to himself quietly. “Yeah, I don’t know. I wouldn’t put it past her to poison the old Queen. People are calling her things like Her Imperial Condescension, or…The Condesce…stuff like that…”  
This confirmed what they already knew about her. She was pretty notorious for doing whatever it took to get what she wanted, which was mostly to have no one be more powerful than her, hence the hatred against psychics.   
“So are you going to the funeral?” Terezi asked blatantly, with a surprisingly straight face. She, unlike Tavros, wasn’t afraid of getting straight to the point and didn’t let people’s feelings get in the way. Not that she had a soft spot for Gamzee anyway.   
Gamzee shook his head, laughing softly. “Now what kind of question is that, Pyrope?” he raised a hand to smooth his hair away from his face. “Of course I’m going. Naturally, all the royals’ll be going, so I’ll have to tag along too. But it’s not exactly something I’m looking forward to, alright? I don’t like funerals. Not enough colour.”   
Terezi somehow found it necessary to laugh bitterly at that comment.   
“So, uh, you think we’re going to be in trouble, then?” Tavros asked meekly, changing the topic and shrinking into his wheelchair.   
Immediately Gamzee’s expression softened and he patted Tavros on the shoulder reassuringly. “Don’t you worry, Tav. I’m not gonna let anything happen to you guys, alright? And she’s all the way in Derse, anyway; the royals here sure aren’t going to want to get rid of you all.” He smiled, but it looked forced and very, very tired. He had obviously been thinking about this a lot, too, even though he wasn’t a psychic. He really did care about his friends, even if he had funny ways of showing it.   
“That reminds me, Makara,” Terezi started, leaning in and crossing her arms in her best interrogation stance. “Do you have any idea why Karkat hasn’t wanted to talk to me for a while?” at that moment, the young vigilante reminded Tavros of a snake cornering a mouse.   
“Don’t really quite know about that, Pyrope. Maybe he’s just tired of dealing with your crazy blind girl act. You know, it’s pretty obvious to us, but then again, how are you supposed to see that?” A very shrewd and petulant mouse, maybe.   
Terezi sighed through her nose and grinned like the Cheshire cat. It was pretty evident that his comment about her blindness upset her, but she did well to cover it. “I know that’s not true, because he actually adores my blind girl act. Maybe he was just sick of you being so arrogant and needy?”   
These were the sort of arguments that Tavros hated, and tried hard to avoid. “Uh, yeah, maybe…whatever you said. But…I’m just kind of worried about…well, our friends from Derse, who are, uh, psychics…?”   
Both of them turned to face him with such a look of sympathy (and also maybe pity) that Tavros squirmed.   
“You’re still worried about Vriska, huh?” Gamzee asked, looking quite worried for the kid who just couldn’t get over his first girlfriend.   
Terezi huffed and shifted in her chair. “Tavros, she’ll be fine. She can take care of herself; done that her whole life. She doesn’t need anyone to worry about her.”   
Tavros bristled slightly. “Yeah, but what if she’s not? What if she, uh, gets caught, or, something…she could still be stealing stuff! I just…I really don’t want her to get hurt anymore!”   
Gamzee shook his head slowly, smiling in that sad, but amused way. “I still don’t get why you care about her, after everything she’s done.” He didn’t sound upset or angry, he just sounded like he couldn’t believe it.   
If it were anyone else, Tavros would have backed down miserably without a fight. But Gamzee was his closest friend, and he didn’t have to be scared to speak up. He braved a stare into Gamzee’s eyes. “Have you ever been in love?”   
Both Gamzee and Terezi didn’t expect that question. Terezi turned away, scowling, but Gamzee stared off into the distance, and got that cold, closed-off look on his face. “No…no, I haven’t. I guess you’d know more about that than me, Tav.” Something about Gamzee’s voice confused Tavros; there was a sharp edge he hadn’t expected.   
Terezi stood up abruptly, clearing her throat and crossing her arms over her chest. “I think we should go home and feed Pyral, huh, Tavros?” she said, elbowing him.   
He nodded, and they said their goodbyes. Terezi made sure to give the guard a snarky remark before they left. Tavros was still unsettled, though. He hadn’t gotten any of the answers he’d been after. Vriska was still on his mind, but what could he do? She was all the way in Derse, and the few conversations they still had were fairly guarded and brief.   
“So I picked up a big bag of offal from the butcher’s…do you think she’ll like that?” Terezi remark with a devious grin, making Tavros shudder. Sure, he ate meat, but he didn’t like to think about where it came from.   
Pyral was the medium-sized dragon that had attached itself to Terezi from birth. Her mother had found the egg one day and brought it home to be hatched and raised. The dragon (Later named Pyral) had made herself Terezi’s protector, and she was extremely lucky to have an actual dragon around. She got into weird temperaments sometimes, and she was extremely possessive of Terezi, so it helped to have Tavros be able to control her.   
Dragons were rare enough as it were, but Pyral was an exceptionally unique breed. They lived blindly, learning to ‘see’ through their other sense, much like Terezi herself. But these dragons rarely opened their eyes; anyone who looked into their eyes was instantly blinded. Coupled with the fact that they breathed fire, Pyral was yet another reason no one messed with Terezi Pyrope. There was one prime example of Pyral’s fury, but that was all anyone needed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, mythical creature exist in this world, too. Expect some references to the lusii.


	3. Noble Savages

Why she refuses to eat a healthy meal of cooked vegetables, I’ll never understand. Equius pondered as he loaded up his rucksack with food, a few books and some other odd bits and pieces. He hastily tied his long, dark hair into a ponytail before heading outside the castle gates, nodding to acknowledge the guards and other Dersites as he took the familiar shortcut to the edge of the kingdom.   
Cautiously, he scanned the horizon, making sure no one was looking before he quickly ran through the border of Derse into Skaia.   
Someone of his class should be ashamed to even think of going there, and admittedly, he was. But Equius had a duty to fulfil. He had sworn to protect her, no matter what the cost, even if it meant punishment. Surely his father would be disappointed if he ever found out, but Equius was always extremely careful not to let anything slip.   
He had first found the girl when he was a young boy, scrambling around the forests practising with the bow his father had given him. She was an utter mess; a savage child, cloaked in the pelt of a mountain lion, chewing on the meat of some small mammal. She was tiny and frail, all of her ribs visible. Her lips were pulled back into a snarl, and her eyes showed a fierce fury.   
But she was much, much smaller than him, and he was over-confident at that age, anyway. He was unusually strong, and he felt sure he could defend himself if she lashed out. He should have kept walking, or called out. She should have been put in an orphanage, or dealt with by an adult. But Equius had been headstrong, and his life had lacked in adventure, so he wanted to handle her himself.   
After a lot of cautious questioning, he discovered that she could indeed speak; she had told him that her parents had abandoned her when she was young, but they had taught her to speak and read, at least. She had learnt to hunt by herself, and though she didn’t kill the lion, she had found it dead and knew the fur would be useful. She was very resourceful, but it was an undignified existence, especially for one so clever and quick-witted.   
When Equius asked why she seemed was answering all of his questions, she simply tilted her head and replied; “I knew you were coming.” It turned out the young girl, named Nepeta, was a psychic. She had visions, most of which featured graphic scenes of death, and whatever gave her those powers compelled her to draw them on the walls of the cave where she lived.   
Equius wasn’t completely sure how it happened, but he had become attached to her. He’d come back after that visit, for whatever unknown reason, and brought books. He’d taught her how to read and write, and eventually he’d brought supplies to ‘renovate’ her cave, so that it was more like an extravagant, colourful, child’s tree-house.   
As he headed further into the forest, he kept a sharp eye and ear out for any sudden noises. Nepeta was amazingly cat-like in a lot of way; she could hunt like a lioness, and move through the undergrowth without making a sound. She liked to surprise Equius, much to his irritation, but he was getting better at detecting her movements.   
So when the branch snapped, he was prepared for the attack.   
He whirled around and caught her in his arms before she could make contact, holding her out while she giggled with giddiness. “Hi, Equius!” She was always happy to see him, which was a welcome change for the Dersite. She had long since gotten rid of the lion pelt in favour of a borrowed coat from Equius that was much too big for her and covered her hands. She was so different from the shivering, terrified child she had been when he first saw her.   
Equius put her down and wiped off a trail of dried blood that had smeared on his hand. Disgusting. He took a moment to look at his companion and saw that beneath her saccharine disposition, she was stressed and seemed to be holding back tears. “Have you had another vision?” he asked her seriously, watching her bite her lip and look away.   
“Um, yeah…the Queen…she’s dead, right?” she said as she took hold of his hand, leading him through the forest to her cave. Equius had told her many times to try and repress the visions, partly because psychics were looked down, partly because she could expose herself and be killed, and partly because it distressed her terribly.   
“Mmm.” Equius grunted and nodded solemnly. “The new Queen is…powerful, but she hasn’t quite done enough yet to know whether her reign will be benevolent or not. Although, I’ve heard she has big plans for the future…?” he looked down at her, waiting for her to further explain her vision. She didn’t like revisiting them, but they almost always had critical information.   
But as they reached the cave, she quickly ran inside, dragging Equius’s tall figure behind her. The newly installed electric lights showed the gory paint on the stone walls clearly. The newest depiction, the one with the brightest red, showed many crude drawings of what looked like fire, and a collection of dead bodies. There was a golden flag flying above the carnage. Prospit, not Derse. Equius thought, and berated himself for nearly sighing in relief. He had allies in Prospit now; he shouldn’t wish them any misfortune.   
Nepeta was still holding his hand and threading her fingers through his nervously. “She will do this.” She whispered. “She wants to kill all of the psychics. In Derse and Prospit. She’s going to take over there, too.” She took a few steps back and gave Equius her best brave face, standing up as tall as she could. “I want to go over there, and warn everyone. Tavros, and Terezi…” And Karkat, too, she was on the verge of saying. She was infatuated with the young man, though Equius disapproved.   
Even at her full height, with her most determined expression, she was still the most fragile, delicate thing Equius had ever seen. He couldn’t let her go off by herself, especially if the new Queen was after psychics. If anything happened to her….he shuddered to think what he would do. “I’m coming with you, then.” He said simply, almost shocked at the words. It was unthinkable for someone of his bloodline to even be around psychics, let alone consort with those of the enemy kingdom.   
Nepeta pouted. “Equius, you don’t have to do that! I can go by myself!” she stamped her foot, looking too much like a petulant young child for Equius not to smile.   
“I’m afraid I can’t let you do that. You still haven’t eaten the food I brought you, so we might as well share it with them.”   
She glared at him, but she was giving in. “But you’re a noble! If anyone saw you-”  
“Then I’ll be able to talk my way out of it. I’m sure one of my father’s comrades will be happy to cover for me.”   
Nepeta stuck her tongue out and hissed quietly, almost making Equius laugh. “I appreciate that you want to be independent, but there’s no way out of this. Discussion over.”

 

Equius felt very fortunate that everyone Nepeta wanted to see was in the one place. He really didn’t want to be seen in Prospit at all, and he definitely didn’t want to go looking in every possible household for them.   
As soon as she saw them, Nepeta immediately rushed up to hug Terezi, nearly knocking her over in the process. She also said something cheerful to Tavros, before noticing Kanaya and Karkat approach.   
Equius hung back, cautious. He had never ventured into Prospit before, whereas Nepeta had. And he was not comfortable around these people, nor where they around him.   
Kanaya was the first to notice him. She raised an eyebrow, but didn’t say anything as Nepeta led them to a table away from the bustle of the street. They all sat down, grouping together in pairs. Equius could feel Karkat constantly eyeing him warily, muscles tensed.   
Nepeta took a deep breath before speaking, and her foot brushed his softly. “Um, I have something I need to tell you guys…It’s really important…” Equius tried to hold back his impatience as he realised that this conversation would involve a lot of tip-toeing around delicate subject.   
“What is it, Nepeta?” Kanaya asked, reaching over to hold her hand. Her eyes showed depths of compassion, but also stern determination. She wanted to get to the point as fast as Equius did.   
“She saw a vision of Prospit in ruins. The new Queen plans to rule both kingdoms without mercy.” He blurted out, before more tedious horseplay could take place.   
Nepeta rolled her eyes, obviously wanting to tell them herself. Tavros shrunk back into his pathetic wheelchair, and Terezi glared stubbornly into empty space. Karkat also seemed anxious, for some reason, and he didn’t meet anyone’s eyes, even Kanaya.   
“It was horrible. There were…there were dead bodies everywhere, and fire…so much fire.” Nepeta explained with a shudder, reaching for Equius’s hand again.   
“So, uh, is…is she really going to uh, well…kill all the psychics…?” Tavros asked timidly, nearly whispering.   
Nepeta’s expression softened. “I- I know it sounds bad, but these visions don’t have to come true! I think we can keep each other safe, if we don’t attract too much attention to ourselves…” Equius could tell from her expression that she desperately wanted to comfort the paralysed boy. She was very affectionate towards Equius himself, but she was a bit hesitant about doing the same for others. She was close to Tavros, though, and she wanted to be brave if he was scared.   
“How can we keep each other safe? What chance in hell do we have against this Queen? It just seems to me like there’s no hope now. Why bother trying to put up a fight?” It was Karkat who spoke this time, fist clenched and eyes fixed on the table. His voice was small, but his frustration was obvious.   
Kanaya’s eyes hardened. “Don’t say things like that, Karkat! We can’t lose hope yet. I’m sure Nepeta has a plan.” It wasn’t a question, but both Nepeta and Equius felt the need to answer.   
“Well, I was thinking…If things got really desperate, we could form a…a resistance of some sort in my cave.” Wait a second…they hadn’t discussed that. She could have told him that was her plan!   
“That’s a great idea, Nep! No one’s found it before, so there’s no chance of them catching us, right?” Terezi said, nudging Nepeta while she grinned, pleased at her friend’s reaction.   
Karkat huffed. “Only if things get desperate. This is Skaia we’re talking about; you know, the thing this whole war started over? They’re bound to check it out sometime.”   
Kanaya tapped his arm with her slender fingers, playing peace-maker. “It’s a good back up plan, but we shouldn’t worry about it for now. We’ll keep in contact, and if anything desperate happens, we can considerate.” She turned her gaze on Equius and Nepeta. “For the meantime, I think you two should head home now, alright? Karkat and I should be leaving soon, too. If you have any other visions, Nepeta dear, please make sure to tell us. I know they hurt you, but they could be important.”   
Nepeta nodded sincerely, and the two Dersites rose to leave. Equius could feel his head spinning a little. These new advances were creeping up on him, making him question everything he was taught as a child. Derse’s leaders were supposed to be trusted people, ones who knew what was best for the kingdom. Prospit was supposed to be the enemy, and psychics were meant to be eradicated.   
But everything was changing now, and in this war, Equius was on the side he never would have expected. 

 

“Karkat, I’m just going to get some sewing supplies, alright?” Kanaya said after Nepeta and Equius had left.   
Karkat nodded, distracted. He felt dizzy all of a sudden, and all the grey fear emanating from everyone wasn’t helping. It was just too much for him to think about now, and all he wanted to do was curl up and sleep forever.   
“Hey, Tavros, you go on ahead. I’ll catch up with you soon!” he heard Terezi say in her familiar, slightly rasping voice. He was about to turn away and start walking off when she grabbed him around the collar.   
“Where do you think you’re going?” She asked, grinning mischievously. Karkat felt himself blushing despite his efforts not to.   
“Terezi, I don’t have time to hang around; I’ve got things to do.” That was a lie, but he kind of wanted to get away from her. He knew it wasn’t fair, she was one of his closest friends, but he just couldn’t…deal with being around her right now.   
She frowned and tilted her head, her glasses glinting in the sunlight. Obviously she wasn’t going to settle for that. “Karkat, I don’t have time for your fooling around. I really need to talk to you, Karkles.” Karkat felt himself growing redder as he glared into her smirk.   
“God, Terezi…I told you not to call me that anymore.” He muttered, crossing his arms. He hated it when she got all coy like that.   
Predictably, she grinned wider. “Yeah, like I even care about that! But listen, I actually have something I want to say to you, besides being angry that you haven’t bothered to talk to me in ages.”   
Karkat scowled again. “Can you get to the point, Pyrope?”   
Terezi leaned in, and Karkat could feel her hair on his neck. “I know your secret!” she sang, bobbing up and down on her feet.   
Karkat stepped back, stunned. “What? No you don’t!” he cursed. “I mean…I don’t have a secret. What are you talking about?” Great, now he’d done it. There was no hiding now.   
“Karkat, just how long did you think you could hide it from me? I know you’re a psychic; I got a glimpse of your super-cool vision first hand!”   
“What is that supposed to mean? You got a glimpse of it? You’re not making much sense, Terezi, even for you!” He was rambling now; anything to keep from admitting the truth.   
Terezi gave him a calculating look, checking his reaction carefully. “I kind of just…looked into your mind, and saw things the way you see them. A very colourful and tasty way, too, I might add!” She starting laughing madly, and Karkat couldn’t feel as violated as he should have.   
“Ok, that’s fairly creepy. Don’t do weird things to my brain unless I give permission. Is that all you wanted to talk about?”   
She stopped laughing and adopted a serious expression. “I just wanted to know why didn’t tell me. Kanaya obviously knows, and I can understand why you won’t tell anyone else…but it’s me, Karkat. You know you can trust me!”   
Karkat sighed and looked down. “Yeah, I know I can, but…god, Terezi, I don’t want it to change anything! I’m still the same as I’ve always been, and I don’t want people to make a big deal about it. And it’s more important now than ever. If Nepeta’s visions are right, then we’re all in danger. Kanaya, too, for knowing about it and not handing me in.” He couldn’t risk anyone else knowing. For every person who knew, it meant another life was at stake.  
“Well…I just want to let you know that I’m here for you. I know, it sucks to have these powers that no one understands, I get that. But I’m here for you, ok? We can talk about this stuff! You don’t have to hide things from me.” She winked behind her glasses. “Not like you actually can, anyway!”

 

There it was. The catch of the day. The deer was rather large, though it wasn’t a buck, and it would make a pretty good meal.   
Not for Eridan, of course. Why would he kill his own food? He was practically royalty, everything he needed was brought to him.   
But there was something he had to do for himself; hunt for the hideous monster that dwelled in the castle dungeons. If it were up to Eridan, he would just let the things starve (no matter how much destruction it caused when it went hungry). But if he did that, it would upset her.   
Eridan fixed his crosshairs on the deer, concentrating hard. These animals were easily frightened, and-  
“Hey! Eridan!” Shoot. There goes dinner.   
“Fef, what are you doing? You just scared off my catch!” It didn’t really matter all that much, he could easily find another deer. Anyway, he couldn’t stay mad at her for long.   
She was, in all senses of the word, beautiful. She had so much long, lustrous hair it was a wonder how she kept it all under control. She, as the new Heiress,(and of royal blood, anyway) was usually dressed in intricate, delicate gowns of the finest materials that made her radiate with beauty.   
But she was the most lovely when she was like this; free, away from the castle boundaries with her hair flowing loosely and her simpler, work clothes adorned. This way, she didn’t have to hold a permanent expression of perfect etiquette; her eyes were allowed to sparkly freely, and she could smile in that way she only did around Eridan.   
“Heehee, sorry, Eridan!” she laughed sheepishly, a little ashamed but not enough to back down. “I really need to talk to you, though. In private.” She tilted her head quickly, inferring that they should go somewhere else.   
Eridan sighed, shoulders heaving. They were in the middle of a forest- how more private could you get? “Fine. It’s not like it matters, anyway. That thing’s got enough food not to starve for a while, right?”   
Feferi gave him the slightly disappointed look she always did that let him know he said something wrong. “Eridan, she’s not that thing, she’s a kraken, ok? And she has feelings.” She gave him a little shove to let him know she wasn’t too upset. “And yes, she has enough food for now. You can take a break and hang out with me for a second!” she grinned widely and took hold of his arm, leading him through a familiar track in the forest.   
The steps they took were almost automatic; they had walked there so many times. The place they were headed towards was where they had built a tree-house together as children (they hadn’t actually built it themselves; Eridan’s father made it while the two supervised). It was still intact, and held a lot of sentimental meaning.   
They clambered up its branches, feeling out the familiar surface of the wood and finally settling into their favourite places next to each other. Feferi opened her mouth to speak and closed it again, choosing her words carefully. She wouldn’t meet Eridan’s eyes. “So. You know how my mother’s taken over, now that the old Queen is dead?”   
Eridan rolled his eyes. “Yes, Fef, I know. Did you make me walk all this way just to tell me that?” He wasn’t go to leave anyway, but he didn’t like hearing the same thing more than once.   
Feferi glared and pouted at him, then huffed. “Yes, we came here just so I could tell you what’s going on all over the kingdom.” She rolled her eyes, and Eridan smirked. “No, Eridan! This is important! My mother…she poisoned the old Queen! And…and she’s got plans. She...she wants to take over Prospit, too. She’s going to get rid of the royals there, too!” She seemed seriously distressed about it, and to be honest it kind of shocked Eridan, too.   
He cursed, and tapped at the wood of the tree. “That…well, I don’t really expect anything less from your mother. That woman’s completely power-hungry.”   
Feferi looked at him and sighed, frowning. Why couldn’t he ever say anything sympathetic? He wasn’t good with…feelings. He wasn’t really sure what she expected him to say.   
“You’re not getting it, are you? She doesn’t just want power; she wants to get rid of the psychics!” Well, that was certainly something shocking.   
It took Eridan a few seconds to digest that, and figure out what it meant. “But…wait. Tav and Ter…they’re psychics. So are Sol, and Ar, and Nep, and…” his eyes widened. “And Vris. Oh, god, she’s goin’ to die, isn’t she?” he buried his face in his hands, frustrated and mournful.   
“Geez, Eridan, took you long enough.” She said gently, nudging him. She knew about his history with Vriska, and why he was worrying for her. She was very well-known in Derse for being a psychic; she was one of the only ones that were allowed to live a free life. But that was mostly because of her wealth, and her mother. Everyone knew about the Marquise, and no one dared to mess with her daughter.   
Eridan groaned. “This can’t be happenin’, Fef. I can’t let her die. You know how long I’ve spent tryin’ to protect her? And a whole lot of gratitude she showed for it…she should really be thankin’ me for gettin’ her off the hook so many times…”   
“Snap out of it, Eridan! She’s not going to die!” Feferi interjected, her impatience growing stronger.   
Eridan look up, frowning. “What do you mean, she’s not goin’ to die? A course she is! This is your mother we’re talking about, Fef! Nothin’ stops that woman!”   
She took his hands away from his face and smiled at him. “She’s not going to, because we’re going to start a rebellion!” Despite her hopeful expression, Eridan’s spirits weren’t lifted.   
“Fef, that has to be the worst idea I’ve ever heard. We start rebellin’ against her, and she’ll kill us straight away.”   
She rolled her eyes. “We’re not openly rebelling; we’ll gather up all of our friends, and go into hiding, or something! Then we’ll train ourselves up, and get stronger, until we’re ready to take her down!” she looked so happy and proud of herself that Eridan almost grinned back, but he couldn’t be cheered. He settled for a sad smile and patted her on the shoulder.   
“How ‘bout we wait until things get really bad before we start doing anything drastic?” Feferi opened her mouth, ready to interject, but Eridan cut her off. “I ain’t sayin’ it’s not a good plan; I just think that it might not be the best thing to do right now.”   
Feferi sighed resignedly, and pouted. “You’re right, I guess. But I still think we should do something! We need to make sure our friends in Prospit are alright!” she grinned again as an idea came to her. “I know! We could get Sollux to check in on them!”  
Eridan groaned loudly. “God, no, Fef! Why him? I thought I wouldn’t have to deal with that peasant anymore!”   
She immediately glared at him with a force than made him shudder. “Eridan, you really should stop calling him that! We’re not better than anyone, alright? And he’s a really great guy, too. He saved my life once, remember?”   
He squirmed and shrugged. “Yeah, I remember. I just don’t like the guy, is all.”   
She made a sympathetic noise. “Yes, I know. But he’s pretty much the only person who can travel between the two kingdoms without any questioning! Plus, he’s really smart, too. He can keep everyone in check for us until things get ‘drastic’!”   
Eridan couldn’t exactly with that. Besides, he had a couple of people in Prospit he wanted to check up on, but couldn’t, so this was probably the next best thing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eridan is my zodiac troll, and Equius is my parton, so I hope I did them justice!

**Author's Note:**

> In this AU, Derse and Propspit are vaguely set out like Alternia, in the sense that the civilisation of the kingdoms is left mostly in the hands of children and teenagers. This is why Karkat and Kanaya live with eachother without any parents or adults. 
> 
> Also, I'm trying to stick to the main canon events, but I promise that no major characters die because I couldn't handle that XD


End file.
